AILA Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Aaron LaFromboise speaking at the “Food is Medicine in Medicine Spring Library: Food Sovereignty Needs in a Tribal Library" session

Food as Medicine

By Greg Landgraf | June 25, 2023

LaFromboise, American Indian Library Association (AILA) past president and director of library services at Medicine Spring Library at Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana, shared her story at the AILA President’s Program, “Food is Medicine in Medicine Spring Library: Food Sovereignty Needs in a Tribal Library,” at the American Library Association’s 2023 Annual Conference and … Continue reading Food as Medicine →

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Kara Arundel writes: “A newly issued federal rule to ensure web content and mobile apps are accessible for people with disabilities will require public K–12 and higher education institutions to do a thorough inventory of their digital materials to make sure they are in compliance, accessibility experts said. The update to regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, published April 24 by the US Department of Justice, calls for all state and local governments to verify that their web content—including mobile apps and social media postings—is accessible for those with vision, hearing, cognitive and manual dexterity disabilities.”

K–12 Dive, May 6
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Andrew Albanese writes: “Amid a three-year nationwide surge in book bans, 2024 began on a hopeful note for freedom-to-read advocates, with legal victories in book-banning lawsuits in Iowa, Florida, and Texas. But after some early successes, several cases are poised to enter a critical next phase. As the wheels of justice grind on, Publishers Weekly rounded up the status of some of the more closely watched book-banning suits.”

Publishers Weekly, May 10
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Tess Vrbin writes: “The Arkansas State Library Board on Friday voted down two motions to withhold state funding from public libraries that board member Jason Rapert put forth in his ongoing opposition to the presence of certain books on library shelves. Rapert reintroduced a motion he proposed at February’s board meeting to suspend funding for libraries suing the state [over the state’s 2023 obscenity law]. He also moved to withhold funds for ‘any library that allows unrestricted access to books or materials that contain sexually explicit, obscene or pornographic materials to minors,’” Both motions failed 6–1.

Arkansas Advocate, May 10, Feb. 9
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Jennifer Matthews and Ane Turner Johnson write: “A focus on digital resources requires careful consideration of library policies by policymakers to ensure that they reflect the university’s public mission and ensure the success of all students. At Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, one such endeavor was to embark on this study to determine if our policies actually reflected the ways in which the student body used the library collection. Through a mixed-methods study, our team discovered that both continuing-generation and first-generation students primarily prefer print books for course materials.”

College & Research Libraries News, May
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “The limitations of generative artificial intelligence (AI) are myriad: They don’t provide citations, they are prone to hallucinations, there is no way to reproduce results, and there are major issues with copyright and user privacy. While retrieval augmented generation (RAG), a framework that creates an application for generative AI large language models, doesn’t solve all these problems, it begins to address the concerns of the academic community. At its core, RAG is the difference between generative AI for fun and generative AI as a legitimate research tool.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, May 8
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In Episode 95, Call Number highlights ways libraries are practicing and promoting sustainability. Segments in this episode include a visit to a monthly repair café at Chicago Public Library’s Sulzer Regional branch, a discussion of disaster plans with Dan Wilson, deputy director of Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and sustainability tips from members of ALA’s Sustainability Round Table.

AL: The Scoop, May 13
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Nardos Haile writes: “John Oliver, during May 5’s edition of Last Week Tonight, highlighted that libraries are ‘in trouble because they’ve become another front in the ongoing culture war. Frankly doesn’t feel like a coincidence so much of this conversation concerns LGBTQ+ themes—as it seems this is the latest way to try and push that community out of public spaces, to send a message that their lives and stories aren’t welcome, and by extension, to tell anyone growing up questioning that the answers are off-limits to them,’ Oliver emphasized.” The episode is now freely available on YouTube.

Salon, May 6; YouTube, May 9

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